MT17P - Mule Team Fixed Blade featuring K390

sodak said:
This knife in K390 steel will be close to the A11 class of steels. If that doesn't get your heart pumping, go read Ankerson's steel testing thread and see how this steel compares to the others when given a medium (400 grit) finish on the edge. All this performance for $70. Insane...
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Wanted to add a link for those who don't know about his thread. I would subscribe to it if you haven't already:D http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...based-on-Edge-Retention-cutting-5-8-quot-rope
 
So is anyone making guesses on what the next K390 Spyderco will be?

PM2 sprint, Military sprint, Gayle Bradley 2 - let the wild speculation begin!
 
Wow, I'm so happy I picked up a couple of these K390 mules. I should have had friends and family pickup a couple too and add them to their kitchen collections. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Too often I find that cooking knives at the houses of friends and family are beyond dull. With a K390 mule in the mix, they could at least reach for that once the el-cheapo Ikea or fancy Wustoff knife loses it's edge (and when they can't cajole me into sharpening them for them).
 
quigibo said:
So is anyone making guesses on what the next K390 Spyderco will be?

PM2 sprint, Military sprint, Gayle Bradley 2 - let the wild speculation begin!
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On the one hand, Sal Glesser is a steelhead...on the other, costs of production, etc., catch up with you at some point...cross your fingers. :)
 
quigibo said:
So is anyone making guesses on what the next K390 Spyderco will be?

PM2 sprint, Military sprint, Gayle Bradley 2 - let the wild speculation begin!
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the Mule came about from a request for a K390 Military in another thread, so my bet is on the Millie sprint...
 
quigibo said:
So is anyone making guesses on what the next K390 Spyderco will be?

PM2 sprint, Military sprint, Gayle Bradley 2 - let the wild speculation begin!
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I'd love to see a Millie sprint! Would be a must-buy for me! And since purple is the only color we haven't seen yet on G-10 I'm hoping for that as well! I'd buy at least 3!
 
Invective said:
I'd love to see a Millie sprint! Would be a must-buy for me! And since purple is the only color we haven't seen yet on G-10 I'm hoping for that as well! I'd buy at least 3!
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A Purple Sprint run Millie?:thumbdn::barf::thumbdn::barf::barf:
 
JNewell said:
On the one hand, Sal Glesser is a steelhead...on the other, costs of production, etc., catch up with you at some point...cross your fingers. :)
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That's easy to solve..just raise the price the appropriate amount..I'm confident they would still sale out.
 
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mattmanyam said:
the Mule came about from a request for a K390 Military in another thread, so my bet is on the Millie sprint...
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Should make for some interesting comparisons with the upcoming Cru-Wear sprint with both being non stainless tool steels originally targeted at punch and die applications.
 
quigibo said:
Should make for some interesting comparisons with the upcoming Cru-Wear sprint with both being non stainless tool steels originally targeted at punch and die applications.
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K390 should perform around 3X more than Cruewear.
 
parbajtor said:
I understand it's closest comparison is with CPM REX 121. Except it's a little easier to work due to being softer in its annealed state.
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Not sure how REX 121 would do with a thin grind and edge geometry.

The closest thing to K390 would really be K294/CPM 10V (A11), then jump into the next step to CPM 15V.
 
Ankerson said:
K390 should perform around 3X more than Cruewear.
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First - Thanks for all the information you've put together for us. That is an amazing resource!

Second - obviously if Crucible is still producing Cru-Wear there is someone out there buying it. As a knife maker (or a tool and die maker for that mater) why might I chose Cru over K390?
 
quigibo said:
First - Thanks for all the information you've put together for us. That is an amazing resource!

Second - obviously if Crucible is still producing Cru-Wear there is someone out there buying it. As a knife maker (or a tool and die maker for that mater) why might I chose Cru over K390?
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The knife industry is a very small part of the overall steel industry.

Cost would be a huge factor and the real need or not for that kind of wear resistance vs toughness of Cru-Wear in the other industries.

Like CPM 10V (A11) is mostly used in industrial cutters die to the high compression strength and extreme wear resistance.
 
Thanks. I was figuring that cost was the driver. I'd imagine not only raw material cost but with higher wear on the tooling processing the steel.
 
Ankerson said:
The knife industry is a very small part of the overall steel industry.

Cost would be a huge factor and the real need or not for that kind of wear resistance vs toughness of Cru-Wear in the other industries.

Like CPM 10V (A11) is mostly used in industrial cutters die to the high compression strength and extreme wear resistance.
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Many Many MANY thanks for all your work and research Mr. Ankerson!

So now that you've had some time with your mule, can you compare the toughness of k390 to any other steels? How tough do you think the k390 mule is compared to an M4 mule? or an Elmax mule?


I can't wait for mine to get here already...shipping to Mexico takes way too long!
 
hookahhabib said:
Many Many MANY thanks for all your work and research Mr. Ankerson!

So now that you've had some time with your mule, can you compare the toughness of k390 to any other steels? How tough do you think the k390 mule is compared to an M4 mule? or an Elmax mule?


I can't wait for mine to get here already...shipping to Mexico takes way too long!
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Not sure what you mean by tough.

K390 has a high compression strength and that helps with edge deformation when cutting, but it's not something I would use as a prybar or a screwdriver.
 
This stuff is HARD. I'm reprofiling the (crap) edge that my mule came with. My non-diamond stones "rub" on the steel rather than "bite". Diamond is a must for this stuff.
 
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Ankerson said:
Not sure what you mean by tough.

K390 has a high compression strength and that helps with edge deformation when cutting, but it's not something I would use as a prybar or a screwdriver.
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I think he means impact toughness measured by the Charpy C-Notch Impact Test. For example the Crucible 3V datasheet pdf shows Cru-Wear at 62 HRC having 30 foot pounds measured on the Charpy test, CPM M4 at 62HRC having 32 foot pounds, and CPM 3V at 62HRC has 40 foot pounds.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...M58wckg4qlCk4gbq8dp6qpA&bvm=bv.49784469,d.cGE
 
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